Exploring the world, 30 days at a time.

June 10, 2012June 10, 2012

Random Photo – June 10, 2012

I took my camera and tripod for a walk yesterday. Not too far from the house is an old water-powered corn mill that has been fully restored and preserved. The pond it sits beside has excellent walking trails around it, and a bridge that crosses at one end. I brought along my headphones to listen to some uber-relaxing music while walking around. Bill Douglas’ album, Deep Peace, and Alan Broadbent’s Round Midnight were the choices of the day. I walked around for a little over 3 hours. The lighting was pretty harsh when I got there so I turned to close-ups in the woods that surround the mill pond.

This dragonfly did not want to hold still for me. I spent the better part of 15 minutes chasing him from leaf to leaf. He finally sat still long enough for me to squeeze off a few sharp photos. The original image has the whole body in it but I preferred this crop that shows off the head and legs.

These bumblebees couldn’t have cared less about my camera and activity. They were so busy going after nectar in these flowers that I was able to get in tight with the macro setting on my lens and pose this shot. I shot 76 frames to get this one with more than one bee in it and both in focus.

And finally the lighting softened up enough to get a decent shot of the mill and its pond. I’m not sure how much I dig the foreground foliage. It seemed like a good idea when I was making the shot but now I think it’s more a distraction than anything else. What do you think?

Have a great rest-of-the-weekend everyone!

Tom

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Technical Details:

All photos were shot with a Sony NEX-7 using a Sony LA-EA2 E-mount to A-mount converter and a Minolta 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. This lens has a macro setting which I used for the close-ups. I was really surprised at how well it worked. I used a small flash unit, a Sony HVL-F20AM, for lighting these macro shots.

When I do these leisurely shoots like yesterday, I like to shoot with the camera in full manual; manual exposure and manual focus. Why? It’s good practice and I find it forces me to take my time and think about my shots more. I highly recommend you try this if you don’t already.